Apprenticeships, IT Training, Government training agenda

Main menu

Monthly Archives: July 2012

Post navigation

Is it fair to ask the apprentices to do some of their course work in their own time?

What a dilemma we’ve had here at ITEC these past 2 weeks! Over the last 10 years or so (the NVQ years – when things were learnt and assessed on the job) it seems we have spent years persuading employers to let apprentices work on their coursework during their normal working hours and we have been very successful. Today’s employers are very supportive and set time aside for the apprentice to devote to their learning. In fact most employers are releasing their apprentice to us one day per week to undertake formal classroom learning.

Most of today’s classes, especially the Microsoft and CompTIA courses, require homework and exam study to be done as an extra outside of the classroom.

So the boot is now quite firmly on the other foot! As employers are already dedicating one day a week for the apprentices to attend the classes, surely it’s not a lot to ask the apprentices to reciprocate and spend 2-3 hours of their own time completing their homework and exam preparation?

After all, at the end of the day, it will be their name on the qualification and their own futures they are investing in!